Edward Herrmann will begin hearing Ancestral Voices at Lincoln Center Theater on Sept. 19 when he appears in the new A.R. Gurney play by that name. Joining Herrmann in the first line-up are David Aaron Baker, Philip Bosco (Moon Over Buffalo), Blythe Danner and Elizabeth Wilson (the upcoming Waiting in the Wings).

Herrmann told Playbill On-Line (Aug. 19) he would stay with Voices until late fall and will then fly west to star in Neil Simon's The Dinner Party, set to premiere at the Mark Taper Forum Dec. 2.

Playing on the upcoming LCT musical Contact's dark nights at the Newhouse Theatre, Ancestral Voices will officially open Oct. 18. Voices closed (June 7) an extended engagement at the Newhouse. Dan Sullivan, who directed Gurney's Far East, helms the readings which, like Gurney's Love Letters, feature a rotating cast.

In Voices, five actors sit on stage and read the script (making it easy to have changing casts) about a family whose lives are turned inside out when young Eddie's grandmother unexpectedly divorces his grandfather to marry the grandfather's best friend.

Mary Louise Wilson was in the spring Ancestral Voices cast, with Robert Sean Leonard, Debra Monk (Company), James Rebhorn (Far East), Nancy Marchand and Mason Adams in the January readings. Tickets for any of Lincoln Center Theatre's shows are available through Tele Charge at (212) 239-6200.

--By Robert Simonson